


Fourth of July

by poison_ghoul



Series: Playground Pinheads [1]
Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Awkward Mikey Way, Brendon Urie Being Brendon Urie, F/M, Fireworks, Frank Iero Is Emotional, Hurt, I'm Bad At Tagging, Josh Dun & Tyler Joseph Are Best Friends, Light Angst, Love, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s), Pete Wentz Being an Idiot, Pete Wentz is a Little Shit, Playgrounds, Post-Break Up, Summer of Like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27376306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poison_ghoul/pseuds/poison_ghoul
Summary: “The world isn’t ready for a love like ours,”Mikey told Pete last summer, drunk out of his mind. He couldn’t forgive himself for being sober enough to remember the way Pete looked at him as he said it. The image was burned into his mind.“We can never be. Not us.”ORA set of fourteen best friends decide to spend one last night together as a group at the playground before they go their separate ways; Mikey and Pete don't talk for the whole night, but never leave each other's minds.
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way (one-sided), Frank Iero/Jamia Nestor, Jenna Black/Tyler Joseph, Lindsey Ballato/Gerard Way, Mikey Way/Pete Wentz
Series: Playground Pinheads [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103303
Kudos: 6





	Fourth of July

**Author's Note:**

> Second AO3 fic ever. Much more proud of this one than the other. Enjoy.

**3 July [8:54]**

The sun dipped behind the horizon, peeking over just enough to paint the sky a dark tinge of pink. Mikey stared up at it from where he was lying flat on top of the playground monkey bars. His leg was dangling off the side, swinging back and forth idly as the other was propped up by the handle bars. He tilted his head to look over at his large group of his friends scattered amongst the rest of the playground ( _their_ playground), the pink of the sky adorning their features.

His brother, Gerard, was reclined on the slightly tattered climbing net leading up to one of the lookouts. Lindsey's back was pressed against his chest, completely tranquil as Gerard ran his fingers through her hair. His nails grazed her scalp lightly as he did; it was enough to lull her to sleep. She refused to, though. She wanted to stay up with her friends to watch the fireworks like they all said they would.

Ray was leaned up against the pillar of the same lookout. He held a half-empty beer in his hand, taking a few occasional sips from it and he spoke quietly to Gerard, the younger listening intently.

Across the playground was a second lookout that stood a couple inches shorter than the other. Brendon was sat, quite literally, at the top of it. The roof was far from steep and had a wide enough ledge for him to sit - which he did, a beer at his side.

Tyler was sitting at ground level below him, perched on the end of the plastic single slide attached to the side of the lookout. One of his legs was pulled up to his chest as Jenna sat in front of him, her head leaned against his available knee. Josh was sharing the wood-chipped ground with four scattered beers, and Patrick, back pressed against the pole of the monkey bars where Mikey still lay.

Jamia was with Frank on the stairs. Legs stretched out and taking up an entire single step, Frank mirrored her to take up the step below. His hand rested on her thigh, his head tilted back against the railing as his eyes drooped. He was pretty tired too, but unlike Lindsey, he didn’t mind drifting off here and there. He knew his idiot friends would find a way to wake him up, whether they meant to or not, and he loved them for it.

Now, one would think Dallon was one of the very few sensible ones in the group; standing casually on the platform under the roof where Brendon’s legs dangled in front of him. But in his hand was a sparkly, silver metallic sharpie - perfect for writing on playground equipment. He hummed to himself as he mindlessly wrote a Back to the Future quote along the chipped paint of metal pole supporting the lookout.

Ryan, however, was sitting further away and on the swings. It creaked softly as he rocked back and forth at a small distance. He was zoned out, just breathing in the moment as he watched over his friends with caring eyes, kind of the same way Mikey was currently.

Finally, saving best for last, Mikey looked back at the first lookout.

His gaze landed on Pete, notepad in hand while he sat on the roof almost similar to Brendon’s. This roof was significantly steeper than the other. Although it still had some space to sit on, there wasn’t much of a way to secure himself. It worried Mikey and the rest of their friends that he was prone to more danger than Brendon - and even _he_ felt like Pete might be pushing it - but they all trusted him. And Pete trusted them back. He loved the beauty of heights and the feeling of adrenaline; and being up there gave him both.

 _“I could like, grab onto the railing if I fell one day,”_ he said once. The rest of the group didn’t argue with him, but made sure to watch Pete like a hawk in case that day came unexpectedly.

Mikey examined the boy's face in the remaining sunlight they had left. It was noticeably darker now, but there was still a little bit of orange-y pink left to illuminate his face. His eyebrows creased ever so slightly as he wrote into his notepad, his lips pursing in thought. Sometimes he’d pause and look up to the sky, as if the stars were feeding him ideas. Mikey especially loved when Pete's eyes slipped closed and his head subconsciously nodded along to an absent beat that only he could hear. The boy filled his page with strings of words that could mean nothing to anyone else, but meant everything to only him.

Inevitably, Pete looked up from the notepad and met eyes with Mikey, only for the latter to tear his gaze away and focus it on the now visible stars. He stopped the staring from that moment on. Instead, he relaxed into the quiet atmosphere.

Their version of quiet, anyways.

Ray and Gerard continued talking, Lindsey finally giving into her slumber. Brendon alternated between whistling or singing to himself, taking a sip of beer in between slurred out lyrics and badly replicated guitar solos. You'd hear the occasional laughter of Patrick or Jenna, and sometimes Tyler’s too, but he was normally the one cracking quips and jokes. Other than that, and the melodic jingle of a nearby wind chime somewhere lost in the neighbourhood next to them, it was peacefully quiet.

“This is it,”

Tyler said, almost to himself but loud enough to catch everyone’s attention. Frank peeled his eyes open and looked over at him, everyone else doing the same. Mikey propped his upper body up on the monkey bars to follow suit, not noticing how attentive Pete was to his movement. Tyler, all eyes on him, continued,

“After tonight, we all leave. No more skipping school together, or late night drives to the quarry, or even playground hangouts like this. We’ll be _miles_ away, busy studying or just doing our own thing. We won’t have time for each other like we did before.”

Mikey noticed the way Jenna pouted slightly. She reached up with her hand, which Tyler took in his own, giving a small smile to add to his sentimental expression. 

“We’ll still see each other,” Gerard said, still combing his own fingers through Lindsey’s hair while she slept. “Yeah, maybe not as often, and it’ll be weird to get used to, but we won’t grow apart.”

“You don’t know that,” Frank added quietly.

“The only thing that can prevent that from happening is us,” Mikey butted in. “We’ll only grow apart if we let ourselves. And I trust you guys enough to know that that won’t happen.” 

It fell silent for a moment, but not an uncomfortable silence. It was the type of silence where nothing really needed to be said because they all understood what each and every one of them were thinking. That is, until Brendon spoke up.

“Who knows, though? Maybe we’ll lose one of us.”

“I bet it’ll be Ryan.”

Josh joked to lighten the mood, earning a set of giggles and snickers from the rest of the group. Ryan rolled his eyes and scooped up a handful of wood chips before thrusting it in Josh’s direction. Patrick, who was sitting next to the victim of the situation, ran away with a yelp just as a bundle of wood chips rained down on them. Soon, the previous emotional moment had melted away into a warm, light-hearted aroma as their laughter only increased.

“Dude, _splinters_.” Josh scrunched up his face as he picked at the chips that stuck to the cotton of his shirt, brushing off the remaining dust with the backside of his hand.

“Don’t be such a baby, Josh.” Jenna snorted.

“Well, he’s perfect for the role, Jen.” Pete set his book down and climbed halfway off the roof, jumping the rest of the way down. Mikey flinched as Pete’s shoes dug into the ground at the impact, but when no injury was evident, he relaxed. The shorter joined Josh at his side.

“Needy for attention, complains all the time; y'know, typical baby behaviour. Look, you can even pick him up!”

With that, Pete hooked his arms under Josh’s knees and upper torso, lifting him up with a grunt. The added weight only made him stumble, his knees giving out before the boys crashed to the ground. Josh only groaned as more wood chips stuck to him and stabbed at his sides. He tried to push himself off the ground and away from Pete, but the other responded by wrapping his arms around his waist and wrestling him back down. Mikey laughed at them.

“You’re both idiots,” Ray rolled his eyes and took a swig of his beer.

“Join us, Ray, you know you want to.” Pete grinned as he pinned Josh down.

The remainder of the group watched as Ray set his beer down, calmly approached the two, then sat on top of them with his arms splayed out as if he were relaxing into a beanbag.

There was the sound of pained groans and strangled laughter as Pete and Josh both struggled to push him off. Half of the group watched the humorous commotion, while others ignored them. Ryan, being one of the few ignoring them, rolled his eyes and made his way over to where Brendon was sitting high above.

“Bren,” he said, shooting a few glances at the now three boys still wrestling on the ground, but otherwise looking up at his friend. “Hey, what time is it?”

The younger checked his watch before nodding at Ryan with a squint, who easily got the message. He walked away just as the other announced loudly,

“Two minutes, bitches! Get your asses ready,”

Ryan huffed a laugh at his delivery and took his place back on the swings. At least he got the message across. He looked at his friends, seeing that the three had broken away from each other. Josh was back at the foot of the monkey bars, while Ray had returned to his spot with his beer. Pete climbed back onto the roof, pulling himself up and swinging a leg onto the ledge skillfully. Mikey watched his arms flex as he did so and smirked.

“Guys?”

Frank said quietly once they’d all settled. They looked over at him expectantly, watching him pull his thighs up to his chest to rest his chin on his knees.

“We’re best friends ‘til the end, right?”

“All the way,” Dallon smiled.

Patrick added, “And back,”

“Wherever we are,” Jamia took Frank’s hand in hers.

“Whoever we become,” Pete grinned.

Frank felt a smile tug at his corners of his lips. _Cheesy fucks_ , he thought. An unexpected snort escaped, and before he knew it, his full-chested laughter ripped through the silence. The others joined in easily. There were wheezes and cackles about; it would’ve been considered pretty embarrassing in any other context. But at the moment, they didn’t care. It was their last day together, nothing could’ve stopped them from having a good time.

In the midst of the laughter, there was a faint, prolonged whistle in the distance. Brendon was first to look up and see it.

“Hah, they’re a minute early!” he grinned and pointed, seeing a thin red streak shooting through the sky. The rest of the group looked in time just to see a colourful explosion of light decorating the starry, navy blue background. The sound caught some of them off guard, a few startled shouts being heard over the boom, but they soon relaxed and watched the show astonishingly.

Lindsey, who had fully woken up a couple minutes before the first firework, felt Gerard press a kiss to her temple as they watched the firework show with bliss. He wrapped his arms around her torso and held her close.

Brendon continued to cheer loudly, whooping and whistling as he watched. Ryan, for a moment, turned his attention away from the currently orange sky to raise his eyebrows and laugh at his friend. Dallon rolled his eyes from the platform underneath him. Any other day, he’d tell Brendon to shut up. Today, however, he felt like it was just right.

Jenna sat up and turned around to kiss Tyler properly, smiling into it when his hands caressed her cheeks like they always did. When they pulled away, Tyler tapped Josh’s knee with the toe of his shoe, pulling his attention away from the light show just as red sparkled across the sky. Josh laughed and leaned in for a tight hug. Patrick stared at the fireworks in awe beside them.

Frank and Jamia shared a chaste kiss on the lips first, then he kissed her forehead, then on her smiling lips one more time. He professed his love for her between each kiss, making her laugh in the end. Neither noticed the way Gerard watched them with a sad smile before shifting his attention back to the illuminated sky, which was now painted with pink and blue, the previous yellow mixing in with it.

“Ray!”

Mikey called his friend over the noise. Ray looked up at him and raised his beer, giving him a nod. The younger nodded in return, noticing some movement in the corner of his eye. He raised his gaze until it met with Pete’s, but this time Mikey didn’t look away like he usually would. His breath caught in his throat and his hands gripped the bars, but he built up enough courage to give him a small smile and nod. He felt guilty as the sky burned a bright blue for a moment, enough to visibly see Pete's hesitation. He returned the nod, looking away not even a second after.

 _“The world isn’t ready for a love like ours,”_

Mikey told Pete last summer, drunk out of his mind. He couldn’t forgive himself for being sober enough to remember the way Pete looked at him as he said it. The image was burned into his mind. From then on, Mikey made sure to catch any moment Pete was happy and take a mental snapshot of those instead, hoping they were enough to replace the memory of the previous summer.

No matter how hard he tried, they weren’t.

_“We can never be. Not us.”_

Mikey felt a shiver crawl down his back at the words echoing through his head. He could remember the way they dripped off his tongue like toxic and stuck itself to Pete's heart for eternity. He was finally pulled back to reality as one of the explosions made crack louder than usual. Tearing his eyes away from Pete, he watched as red and purple glittered brightly over the natural darkness of the sky. Mikey felt a heavy weight in his chest as he watched, seeing a glimpse of the boy on the roof bringing his sleeve up to wipe his eyes.

“Happy Fourth, losers!”

Brendon said with another cheer, arms raised high above his head. The group echoed him with laughter. Pete finally pulled himself together and smiled over at his ecstatic friend across the park.

“Best friends ‘til the end!” Josh grinned.

The words seemed to suck the breath out of Pete's lungs, making him go dizzy for a split second. He took a moment to think, tuning out the rest of the world as he shot Mikey a glance. He looked down at his notepad. Pete jotted down one last set of words, underlining the first two before he closed the pad and set it aside;

 _‘E_ _x_ _-friends ‘til the end’_


End file.
